Lean, Clean and Green: the first 30 feet.

Lean: *Create an open area near the house free of fuels, woodpiles, and clutter.

*Ideally have a solid paved or clean, raked gravel walkway that allows room to walk the entire perimeter of the home.

Clean: *Instead of decks and wood patio furniture create flagstone patios, textured concrete driveways, and ramps.

*Use built-in seat walls, decorative rockwork, and built-in bbq’s with open spaces for entertaining.

Green: *Create an edible garden!  Cluster plants according to water use with edibles, flowers, roses, and small manageable turf areas closest to the home.

*Use masses of groundcovers, flowering drought tolerant perennials, irises, and succulents to add visual interest.  Mass shrubs in groups spaced at least 8ft apart.

*Place small ornamental or fruit/citrus trees 15 feet or more from house, thin branches to keep an open, attractive look!

*Make sure that plants are groomed and irrigated regularly to encourage healthy, green growth.  Remove dead or dry stems.

Deer: The only effective way to deal with deer is with fencing.  In the fire safe garden, try a pair of parallel 4ft post and rail fences in-filled with wire, 4 feet apart.  Use self-closing gates at entry points.  If you need height, think of topping the fence with a decorative pergola to support native vines like pipe vine or clematis.

Privacy screens or view blocking:

Use the rule of thumb: place single specimens or small groups of trees or tall shrubs directly in front of what you want to screen.  Just like holding your thumb in front of your face to hide an object in the distance.   Don’t plant a flammable “fuse” of hedging material that costs too much money, requires too much maintenance!

Be a good gardener!

Healthy, fire-safe plants thrive on good soil preparation, mulching and deep, water-wise irrigation.

*Start out right with lots of compost and organic matter tilled into the soil at planting time.

*Build the soil by adding compost and mulch to top-dress the garden in spring and fall.  *Use drip systems set to irrigate DEEPLY each week to keep plants looking their best!

*When plantings become woody or overgrown, Let’s Face it, Time to Replace It!  Old dry shrubs burns easily, no matter the type of plant, so recognize old shrubs that need to be replaced with something new and vigorous.

Learn More: http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet.php

Today the garden was finished and I wanted to talk about the transformation.

Originally, the garden, a 25 by 2o foot plot shaded by oaks and a massive pine, was spotted with a few ferns and some grasses.

The garden is mostly empty with a few struggling ferns scattered throughout.

The garden had been planted with azaleas and camellias, but they had failed due to shallow irrigation, poor fertility, and root competition.

The new scheme included a variety of shade and drought tolerant plants grouped to create a woodland effect.  They were irrigated with drippers to encourage deep rooting plus fed regularly to stimulate strong new growth.  The existing Western Sword Ferns were rescued along with some Mexican Feather Grass that were grouped together to create a drift around the base of the pine.

Among the improvements was a rough rock wall to create more room for the entry.  Tumbled grey flags interplanted with dymondia ground cover give more room for guests to gather at the entry.   A path of grey flags form an informal path through the center of the space to a rustic pine bench backed by Flowering Currents, Carpinteria, and Ceanothus.

Viewed from above, the path and rock wall give structure to the new, dynamic planting.

Near the street, a line of tired junipers was replaced with fragrant ‘Goodwin Creek’ lavenders and Blue Convolvulos creeper.

The plantings is more compatible with the native oaks and pines.

Learn more:

Gardening Under Oaks by

Las Pilitas Nursery

http://www.laspilitas.com/groups/oaks/Planting_under_oak_tree.html

Heucheras mix with ajuga, Pacific Coast Iris and Diascia.

Gaillardia shines in the center of this fire safe combo

The combo features Aloe x nobilis with red blooms, purple flowers from Teuchrium, Scarlet Flower Carpet rose, Gaillardia Goblin, Gold strap leaves of Phormium, plus blue Perovskia Longin, and the purple leaves of Prunus cistiana, the native Sand Cherry.

A low carpet of purple flowered hardy iceplant, Delosperma cooperi, and Santa Cruz oregano fill out the edge.

The combo provides nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds, while being very drought tolerant for sunny spots. There is lots of interesting foliage to keep the look strong all year.

Learn more about Fire safe plants by picking up Douglas Kent’s excellent book, Firescaping.

Preview the book online by clicking the bookcover:

Photo courtesy of Wildscaping.com

This grape make in ideal fire safe plant for many reasons. Like many edible plants California Grape not only provides fruit but also can be used for shade. In my garden, Vitis c. ‘Roger’s Red’ clambers up the pillars of my porch.  The stems dangle down to create a living awning in summer.  But unlike other vines like honeysuckle that create a mass of fire prone twigs and dead leaves, grapes have few stems and soft thin leaves the wilt quickly during a fire.  I also choose plants that will provide more than one season of interest. In the case of ‘Roger’s Red’, the grass green leaves turn shades of red in late summer and fall and linger well into early winter.

California Grape can be used on fences, arbors, or on banks as a informal groundcover.

In my own garden I have enjoyed a large Continus ‘Royal Robe’ shown here in bloom.

Pink "smoke" catches the morning light.

The deciduous large shrub offers dark purple leaves and pink blooms with vibrant fall foliage.  The plant is drought and heat tolerant with a hardiness to about 10F making ideal as a specimen in harsh high and low desert climates.  It makes a great fire safe plant by offering color, year round interest and substance to the garden without adding dry fuel.

Available from ForestFarm Nursery in Tetherow OR, www.forestfarm.com

Save 10% with Savings Code BOT_AF_DE when you click on the photo

Epigram is the new series with quotes by Milton Glaser with proceeds benefitting the International Rescue Commitee

A line of flames is only part of the danger of the wildfire

These flying embers create “spotting” where new fires erupt ahead of the main fire. In the case of Jesusita, flying embers landed in pines and palm trees or the leaf litter that accumulated in the valley of a roof and spread the fire beyond the ability of fire engines to put out.

This shows that “defensible space” is only one aspect of a fire safe garden and home. Maintenance and vigilance also are important.  Some residents stayed to defend their homes and doubtless  were able to combat the embers.  But the risk is great; on one street, fire fighters were overrun in a home, taking shelter inside the structure to avoid the firestorm outside.  Even with their heavy protective clothing and years of training, they went to hospital with burns.  A homeowner would not be that lucky without the same protective gear.  

Along with creating defensible space, home owners should plan to evacuate and protect their home with a fire resistant foam or gel such as ThermoGel, that can be applied via a hose end sprayer quickly.  The gel snuffs out embers and can be an effective part of the Fire Safe Garden.

Smart Gardening Fair, Scotts Valley, CA

www.smartgardening.org

Smart Gardening Fair, Focus on Food, Sat. June 27th

Is it a succulent? What can I plant to help protect my home?

There is an easy answer: forget the plant lists and think about how a fire safe plant grows and what it contributes to your overall sustainable garden.

Here a few examples we will explore today: Gaillardia ‘Goblin’, Penstemon heterophyllus, Pacific Coast Iris, Malus ‘Pink Pearl’,Quercus agrifolia.

Some of the attributes of a fire-safe plant include a lack of woody material accumulating, active growth in summer, or thick  leathery foliage and heavy bark that resists fire.

Gaillardia 'Goblin' offers multicolored blooms for the fire safe border

To start the list off with an explosion of color is Gaillardia ‘Goblin’ ,an easy to grow colorful perennial for full sun. Drought tolerant and deer resistant, it is fire safe because if it’s lack of woody volume and active growth in summer.  This self seeding perennial is ideal mixed with salvia, verbena and teacrium in the dry border.  

Penstemon heterophyllus is native to the foothills of California where it shows off masses blue tubular flowers on 1 ft spikes in early summer.

Penstemon 'Margarita BOP' is a popular cultivar for the dry garden

 The display is noticed by hummingbirds and butterflies alike.  It does best in garden spots where it can go dormant in late summer, making it a perfect companion to ceanothus and low manzanita. Again, low fuel volume and drought tolerance make it penstemon and ideal fire safe choice.  The best known variety is ‘Margarita BOP’ discovered by Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita growing at the back of their porch , hence “BOP”.

Pacific Coast Iris are hybrids between our fine native Douglas Iris and other species to give them a wide range of colors and large ruffled blooms. PC Irises come in many colors including yellow, blue, maroon, and white.  They are ideal under high branched trees like Monterey Pines or live oaks in dappled shade where they can be used to create a colorful groundcover.  Keeping the landscape low and open under trees eleminates fuel ladders to take flames into the crown.

Blue and White Pacific Coast Iris are ideal under trees

Of course, that brings up the Coast Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia, the most iconic tree in the Western landscape.  While it is often seen burned after a fire, live oaks have thick leathery leaves that resist flames  and strong heavy bark that protects buds that can sprout quickly after a fire.  Native trees like Coast Live Oaks evolved with fire. Properly pruned and kept clear of dry brush, this tree adds beauty, shade, and wildlife shelter to any landscape, urban or rural.

One last tree for the fire safe garden illustrates many points at once. ‘Pink Pearl’ is a low chill apple from Australia.

'Pink Pearl' apples offer pink fragrant blooms in Spring

 It adds organic, nutritious food to the sustainable fire safe garden as well as nectar for pollinators, shade for the home, and attractive year round interest from flowers, fruit and fall color for the garden.  Apples don’t sustain fire with leaves that wilt in heat and an open canopy with little dry wood.

Botanist Benches: Chic, Sustainable, Fire-Safe. Save 10% off your order with offer Code:BOT_AF_DE